Turn off file sharing and make sure that your TCP settings do not do NetBIOS over IP.
When an XP machine is booting with file sharing is on it sits there waiting for domain controllers or workgroups (master browser searching) to join.
Capture the boot up process with a sniffer for some interesting insights into what the machine is attempting to do.
AV software is also a huge cycle killer. Most is set to scan all of the OS files as they load... with this is pretty much a must have but you would be surprised how much faster it loads with no AV scanning taking place during the startup process.
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Turn off file sharing and make sure that your TCP settings do not do NetBIOS over IP. When an XP machine is booting with file sharing is on it sits there waiting for domain controllers or workgroups (master browser searching) to join. Capture the boot up process with a sniffer for some interesting insights into what the machine is attempting to do. AV software is also a huge cycle killer. Most is set to scan all of the OS files as they load ... with this is pretty much a must have but you would be surprised how much faster it loads with no AV scanning taking place during the startup process.